Norman takes third-round lead at Senior British Open

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Greg Norman's best showing on the Champions Tour came at the 2005 Senior British Open, where he finished solo third.

SUNNINGDALE, England (AP) -- Greg Norman shot a bogey-free 6-under 64 to grab the lead by a stroke heading into the last round of the Senior British Open on Saturday.

With a vintage round worthy of a man whose varied businesses include winemaking, Norman was at 10-under 200, a stroke ahead of overnight leader Fred Funk (72) and Loren Roberts (67).

Tom Watson's hopes of improving on his runner-up spot in the British Open last week virtually vanished in a level-par round of 70 to trail Norman by six shots.

Watson's putter remained cold, despite an overnight grip change after he had similar problems on Friday.

"I had five three-putts. I wasted a good ball-striking day," he said. "I hit it very well and made absolutely nothing on the greens, although I did make a 60-footer (on the 13th hole) and a 30-footer (on the 5th).

"Otherwise, I was missing everything. Everything was right, everything pushed. Maybe I ought to aim left.

"I don't have very good speed control on these greens. They're not easy greens, but I was off on the speed on a few putts. It seemed as if they were different speeds -- to me."

Norman found the right speed, and described his round as solid.

"Simple as that. I put the ball in play and putted decently," he said. "I got on the tee and could see the shots I wanted to play and just went and played them. I really wasn't worried about anything else."

The Shark has led eight majors after the third round -- but no Champions Tour events -- in his career. He loves the Sunningdale course, where he played often and won during his years on the European Tour.

"I feel comfortable around this golf course. I always have done for some reason. I like the way it feels to me off the tee. You can be aggressive or conservative, depending on how you want to play. Today I had a mixture of both."

He was surprised by Funk's slide.

"I didn't expect Fred to come backwards, to tell the truth. But it's an awkward golf course. If you feel a little out of balance it's kind of hard to get back on track," he said.

Funk dropped his first shot of the week at the tough second hole, then double-bogeyed the 12th and bogeyed 14.

"The good news is that I'm still there. I can still win it," Funk said. "The bad news is that I put everyone else in the tournament right back in it."

There was another round of 64 from Larry Mize and rounds of 65 from Bernhard Langer, Ben Crenshaw and defending champion Bruce Vaughan. Langer's round took him up to a share of seventh place four shots behind Norman as he bids for his fifth Champions Tour victory of the year.

"I hit a lot of good quality shots even though I didn't make many putts," Langer said. "I still shot 65 so I'm happy with my long game."

Denis Watson held fourth place, one ahead of Mize and Sam Torrance, second overnight. Torrance triple-bogeyed the tough second hole and shot 71.

Mize birdied four in a row from the 11th, and the last two.

Mize, who 22 years ago made the spectacular chip-in to beat Norman for the Masters, was delighted with his round, which contained six birdies in a back nine of 29.

"I felt I got things rolling on the back nine and was able to bring it in pretty good," Mize said. "I did putt well but I started to track my irons better on the back nine.

"Putting, I made a nice 15-footer or so on the 11, 10 feet on 12, maybe 15 feet at 13 again."

Crenshaw said he was learning more about Sunningdale each day.

"You know it's amazing that I haven't played this course before. I've been close by, for the Match Play (at Wentworth)," he said. "It's a course that takes a lot of knowing, I think. You can play considerably more and learn more about it all the time."

He made seven birdies but his highlight was a par at the 16th.

He drove it a bunker, wedged it out, hit a 6-iron just below the green and sank a putt from about 30 feet.

"That was an amazing putt," he said.